adminBen Chiganze Bassfisherman’s Approach
August to September in Zimbabwe is the spawning season for bass fish. During this particular period big bass fish normally breed in the areas where there are “anthills” in the dam. The “anthills” in the dam are places where you find a lot of weeds (not necessarily the algae) about 10 to 30 metres inside the dam. The same weed structure can also be found at the banks of the dam though there is very little activity at the banks during this particular period chiefly because it will be cold at the banks (principally if they are shallow), thus the bass tend to spawn right in deep waters.
This is in contrast to what happens from around mid-September to April when the bass is easily caught near the banks of every dam. In addition, during this time of the year the bass is caught in deep waters unlike in summer where it can be caught at the top of the water. In summer one can drag the bait on top of the water and catch while in winter one cannot catch by dragging the bait on top of the water.
Even the biting patterns during this time of the year are also different. During this time the bass feeds right in deep waters (where the water will be warmer) and feed slowly. In winter time, the bass does not waste its energy chasing any baits that are moving or swimming fast as it will be preoccupied with conserving energy.
Any fishermen who does not pay particular attention to this behaviour of the bass fails dismally. This follows that people with the best skill set for summer fishing sometimes find the going very tough for this particular period.
Continuous training is compulsory for everyone.
My mentees, Allan and Chris, invited me to test my mettle in Darwendale Dam in Norton. Within a few minutes of accessing the sites with “anthills”, Alan caught three big bass in a row, each time breaking his previous records (in terms of weight). Chris took a bit of time to warm up and after a hour he caught up with Allan. Thereafter it was Chris versus Allan and I was relegated to a pawn in a game of chess.
Though I got a similar number of bites, my skill set was not suitable for winter fishing and consequently I wasted most of my bites. Winter fishing and summer fishing are worlds apart though one will be fishing the same bass. The feeding methods are also different. In short, I got a good hiding from my former two mentees.
What contributed to my mentees’ success?
Chris told me that they started their winter preparations by “recruiting” one of the full-time fishermen at Darwendale Dam. This gentleman is very knowledgeable about winter fishing, the likely good fishing spots in Darwendale Dam and the type of rubbers which are likely to be suitable for this season. He coached them on how and when to strike at this time of the year. Having gone through this internship programme, they practised five times before they invited me for a match.
They had been fishing the whole of July and August so they had pretty good ideas of how bass bites during this particular period. They were improving with each outing. They were just perfecting what they did the previous weeks and I received a rude awakening. The results were there for me to see.
Allan and Chris demonstrated that there is no substitute for practice and repetition. Alan politely told me that “it is not good enough to possess a skill if it is not continually refined and nurtured.
Skill sets are not fixed and easily transferrable without training. Bassmaster if you want to catch up with us, you have to be retrained and drilled with new skill sets. Practice perfects competencies and research refines application of acquired skills.’’
Most mentees end up doing better than mentors if they continually up the skills they have acquired from their mentor.
I was disappointed at being beaten but I realised that I deserved to be beaten because after acquiring the summer fishing skills, I sat on my laurels and allowed my mentees to overtake me. My mentees do not boast of better striking skills alone but they have gone beyond what I have acquired in terms of market research and willing to further undertake “painful training”.
This seems to suggest that mentors will only be comfortable in the presence of their mentees if they continually up skill themselves. Failure to do so will result in mentors hating or badmouthing their mentees if they are not level headed.
There is always a certain misconception that a qualified accountant can easily or comfortably work as a bookkeeper, management accountant, tax advisor, finance manager or corporate finance advisor. These are all accounts related fields but they are not exactly the same. Similarly, a corporate lawyer does not have the same competencies as the criminal lawyer unless he or she is willing to be up skill to criminal law.
In order to move from one field to another comfortably one might need to be retrained. After having been retrained one needs to practise before one becomes competent in the new area.
My behaviour was similar to an accountant who graduated in 1979 and did not acquire any information technology skills in Excel, Pastel and any other accounting packages. Imagine how irrelevant he is slowly becoming if he is still only capable of doing manual accounting entries.
This reminds me that most people are not aware, but they are sitting on degrees, diplomas and certificates which are gradually expiring if no action is taken to refine them.
Continuous learning is a mandatory requirement. One only stops learning when he or she dies.
The writer is a Managing Consultant at CLC Training International. E-mail [email protected].
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